Apple, Amazon Join Race for James Bond Film Rights- Sony’s deal to make James Bond movies ended in 2015 and bids for the rights are being negotiated now. Hollywood Reporter has sources who say Apple and Amazon are in the running with Warner Brothers and Sony to buy the rights to make the movies for MGM. Former Sony executives Zack Van Amburg and Jamie Erlicht are leading the push for Apple.

How to Watch

Plex for Kodi is now free for everyone- Plex has made its add-on for the Kodi media center software free. This allows both systems to run at the same time and share settings. Some settings like multiple users and parental controls will not carry over but most basic ones will. Plex has been taking legal action against unofficial add-ons.

Apple fights Hollywood to price 4K movies on iTunes at $20- The Wall Street Journal says its sources say Apple and movie studios are having difficulty agreeing on the price of 4K movies to be sold in Apple’s iTunes store. Apple supposedly wants 4K movies to sell for $20, which is the top price for current HD releases. The studios would like a price point of $25 or $30.

Netflix orders eight-part musical drama from La La Land director Damien Chazelle- Netflix ordered an 8-part musical drama called The Eddy from La La Land Director Damien Chazelle. Chazelle will direct two episodes and Jack Thorne of Skins will write most of the episodes. The show will take place in a Paris nightclub. The series’s score will be written by Glen Ballard, a six-time Grammy winner known for co-producing Alanis Morissette’s Jagged Little Pill

Amazon’s new flagship Fire TV looks like a square Echo Dot- AFTVNews says it has sources who say Amazon will release two new Fire TV models later this year. One will be a square FireTV stick and the other a regular box that has Amazon Voice Service far-field microphones and speaker built in. Both will support 4K. and HDR.

Roku files for $100M IPO- Roku filed paperwork for an IPO. The filing shows 15.1 million active accounts streaming 3.5 billion hours last quarter, up 60% on the year. Revenue per unit is up 35% on the year to $11.22 for a total annual revenue of $398 million. Advertising and platform subscriptions make up 81% of company profits, up 104% over the last six months, while profits from hardware fell 28% in the same span and represents 19% overall. Roku also launched its own channel for Roku users that streams free movies licnesed directly from studios by Roku and supported with advertising.

Netflix and Hulu already won 21 Emmys ahead of the main event- The Creative Arts Emmy Awards were given out this weekend These are the ones they give away a week before the main awards broadcast, which is this coming Sunday September 17. Stranger Things took home 5 awards include sound and picture editing as well as main title. Netflix documentary 13th from Ava Duvernay got four awards. Handmaid’s Tale got three including production design and cinematography. Overall Netflix got 16 Hulu five and Amazon two.

Dispatches from the Front

Hey guys. Since becoming a cordcutter, I've been more attentive on how people get their media. This is only anecdotal, but one thing I've noticed over the past year is how widespread the knowledge and use of "Amazon fire sticks with access to everything free" has become. People come to my house and I show them how to watch stuff on my apple tvs and remind them that I don't have cable. People from 14 year old cousins to 50 year old uncles will say "oh do you have the fire stick where it has everything free"? I tell them I don't and then they tell me I should get one. I will admit I've done my fair share of pirating back in the day. However, I now consider myself a born again cordkiller that is mostly legit because there are actually easy legal options to access content these days which is what I thought everyone wanted. To me, it seems getting it free may still be a larger component to the equation for some people. I've never used a "special" fire stick , but if it's as easy as ordering it and plugging it in to your tv , I don't know how big media can compete with that if there truly is a growing population that doesn't see any issues with it.

Your favorite boss

- Jerry

Hello Tom and Brian,Do you know of a box or app that will allow me to use single sign and create playlists of the shows I watch in all of my steaming services (Hulu, Netflix, Amazon).Thanks- Chuck

Hello fellow cord cutters,The best website I found for comparing and choosing a streaming service is suppose.tv. You can set your location and choose local channels and cable channels to filter by and determine which service they are available on. You can even compare costs and filter by streaming device. This is the tool you are looking for.